Throughout the rest of the semester, our class will be going to
Brigham Elementary School and working with a preschool and kindergarten class.
Each of these classes has a large number of children who are English
language learners. During our time there, we will work with partners to
teach one science lesson. I have set a very specific goal for myself to
work towards during my time there and that is to learn at least 5 words in
Spanish because Spanish is the primary language that most (if not all) of the English
language learners.
I have set this goal for myself because I think that it is
important that teachers make an effort to familiarize themselves with each
child's native language. This can build a stronger, more trusting
relationship between the teacher and the student and it also helps lessons go a
lot smoother because the child will have a better chance of understanding what
they are learning. I have learned throughout my courses at ISU that
building trusting relationships is an important step to building a caring
classroom community. In TCH 276, I have
learned a lot about the general makeup of diverse classrooms. In module 2, we focused more specifically on
the effects that linguistic diversity has on classrooms and teacher
instruction. I even learned about
California Proposition 227, which is a law that passed in California that
banned bilingual education in the entire state.
I cannot believe that a state would ban such a beneficial and widely
used form of education that so many students are currently enrolled in.
Because of the effectiveness and necessity that I see bilingual
education as, I think it would be very important for me to learn some Spanish
words this semester that I can use in my lesson. A great start would be to learn the five
senses (touch, sight, smell, hear, and feel) in Spanish because that is the
focus of our lessons in the prekindergarten classroom this semester. By learning these words and incorporating
them into my lesson in a meaningful way, I hope to capture the student’s
attention and keep them engaged throughout the entire length of the
lesson. I also think it would be
beneficial to learn other words such as sit, listen, and other words that are
frequently used during lessons. One of the ways that I plan on learning these words is by researching the proper way to say them online. I also intend on asking my sister-in-law who is a high school spanish teacher if the translations I have found are correct.
Although I have set this goal for myself, I would also like to set
another goal. I think that it would be
very beneficial to both the students and me if I were to gain confidence in
working with students who speak another language during this semester. Most of my placements that I have worked in
throughout my college career have not had English language learners. Therefore, I do not have a lot of confidence
in my abilities to teach those students.
I hope that by making solid lesson plans that I make in advance, having
them reviewed by Dr. Osorio, revising the lesson based on her suggestions and
me and my partners new ideas, I will have accurate knowledge of what I plan to
teach during the lessons. That way, I
won’t have to focus as much on making sure I get through all of my lesson
material and put more energy into gaining confidence in working with this group
of students.
I found this web page that is a compilation of science resources to use when teaching science to English language learners that I think will be useful when planning my lesson for the prekindergarten class. http://www.canby.com/hemphill/fyispn1.htm
EXCEEDS: I included a link above that has a large list of resources to use when teaching science to English language learners.
I found this web page that is a compilation of science resources to use when teaching science to English language learners that I think will be useful when planning my lesson for the prekindergarten class. http://www.canby.com/hemphill/fyispn1.htm
EXCEEDS: I included a link above that has a large list of resources to use when teaching science to English language learners.
Kacie,
ReplyDeleteI think that learning some Spanish words is a great goal to set for yourself! It would be very helpful to know these words in order to communicate at least a little bit with your students. I took Spanish in high school, so I know some words, but not nearly enough to communicate with my students. I think I would be able to understand more words in Spanish than I could speak. If you are making an effort to try and learn your students' native languages, it shows that you really care about them and are trying your best to relate to them. I think it will be hard at first to plan lessons for the ELL students in our classroom, but once we get to know them and what they are capable of, I think it will be easier for us to make accommodations for them. I am thankful to have this experience so I can gain more confidence with ELL students as well. Since I have never had to teach a student who did not speak English before, I was not prepared for how difficult it was going to be. One of my goals is to learn how to incorporate my student’s native language into my classroom. Speaking to them in their native language is a great way to do this, but it might be more challenging than it sounds. I like how you have decided to learn 5 words to start, but I’m sure that you will continue to add more and more words as time goes on!
Kacie,
ReplyDeleteI am also hoping to learn a few Spanish words in order to better communicate with the students I will be working with over the semester. I love your idea of learning the basic words that go along with the lesson you will be teaching. I would also like to learn words that have to do with the lesson I will be teaching in the Kindergarten room. My lesson will be on land, air, and water so I plan to find some key words that I could use while implementing this lesson to the Kindergarteners. I hope to find words in the correct dialect so that the students will understand what I am saying to them. I will also need to make sure that I can pronounce the words I have found correctly. If I cannot pronounce then the use of the words will do me no good when trying to communicate the material to the English Language Learners in the Kindergarten classroom. By learning these few words I can work toward my goal of better communicating the material to the English Language Learners in the classroom. Hopefully this will help the students to feel more comfortable in the classroom with us as well. This way the student will be more open to giving their opinion or simply being active in the activity that is taking place in the lesson being taught. I am very glad that I read your blog and got this idea from you. Thank you for helping me to reach my goals!
Kacie,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading through your blog entry. I think that you shared some really great insight into working with ELL's . I am so glad that you shared that your goal is to learn at least five words in Spanish by working with the students at Brigham. Because I have taken many years of Spanish, I didn't have to set a language goal for myself... however, in my future classroom there is an incredibly good chance that I will have students who speak languages that I have no idea how to speak. I think that as teachers we must relate to our students before they can relate to us or our classroom. The students that we will be working with come to our classrooms with a set of prior knowledge and we have to do our best to pull that from them regardless of the language that they know the information in. I also think that it is important to learn vocabulary for the lessons that you will be teaching. Like you mentioned, learning the five senses in Spanish is a great place to start. By learning some of the Academic Language of our lessons we can eliminate some unnecessary confusion or disconnect between the students prior knowledge and their second language vocabulary. I love that you added a link of resources to help teach ELL's These resources will be so helpful to have on hand as we face diverse classroom's in the future. No two school years will be the same so having a resource list to help us figure out what works best for each individual student is a great thing to do.
Kacie,
ReplyDeleteIt is great that you set a specific goal for yourself! Learning at least five Spanish words this semester will definitely be beneficial for your future classroom. You mentioned the five senses and other command words, but I also think that learning common classroom object words, like pencil, desk, board, door, paper, etc.., would help. Since these types of words are already labeled in the kindergarten classroom at Brigham, it should be easier to figure out the Spanish equivalent. Your second goal, gaining confidence working with English language learners, is the same as mine. The methods you listed that will help you achieve this goal were ones that I hadn’t thought of though. It is smart to develop thorough lesson plans that way you can focus on the interactions while you are in the classroom. I’m glad you mentioned this, because I probably wouldn’t have thought about it otherwise. Incorporating Spanish into some lesson plans will also help you accomplish both of these goals. I know that for our partner lesson we included some Spanish vocabulary for the preschoolers. Using this vocabulary will not only help any English language learners, but it will also help us to become familiar with the words, since we will be using them throughout the lesson.
Overall, I think that your goals are appropriate and realistic for the semester. The experience that we gain while working at Brigham will better prepare us for our future classrooms and any English language learners that we may have as students.